Category: Tankboy

Pink Floyd: The Final Cuts?

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Tankboy

I have bought the Pink Floyd catalog too many times. First on cassette. Then on vinyl. Then came CD because it was finally OH SO FUCKING CRYSTAL CLEAR. Then 24K CD because THAT was even more crystal clear and I was a sucker. Then the early ’90s box set because it FINALLY included the singles I only had on scratchy bootlegs. THEN AGAIN only a couple years ago because, hey, the catalog was re-released! And then, earlier this year, I heard the band was remastering and re-releasing the whole dang thing AGAIN.

This time around I was going to win. I’ve spent countless thousands of dollars on Floyd recordings so THIS time around they owed me! And, amazingly, their label agreed, and sent me the latest iteration of Pink Floyd’s remastered and re-issued catalog. (Well, except, for some odd reason, A Saucerful Of Secrets and More. So if the label’s reading this, please send me those. To all the rest of you, that gap in my collection doesn’t really impact my larger view on this re-issue. And here’s why.)

The twelve albums I listened to were amazing. OK, I’m lying, nothing can make The Division Bell amazing; that disc should just die and lie under a tombstone that reads “Dave Gilmour and his wife like this but no one else does, not even the always affable Nick Mason.” But the rest? Amazing.

Now, I have railed against re-issues and remasters and desperate label cash grabs in the past. And truth be told I expected this to be the same thing all over again. But I sit here stunned and pleasantly surprised, and I like to think I’m just as cantankerous and critical as I’ve always been so let me try and make my case here.

Let’s start off with an audiophile’s concerns. When albums get remastered and re-released that usually just means they’ve been made louder but by no means better. The remastering on these discs works the seemingly impossible and ups the levels artfully, without overly compressing the sound. This has the effect of increasing the quieter discs to a volume that can compete with most modern albums without simultaneously coming off as shrill. It’s obvious this was done with great care, for once. (Those of you already dozing off, I’ll be done soon.) For instance, “Atom Heart Mother” weighs in with a symphonic metal heft I hadn’t heard in my own 25+ year experience with that album and “Echoes”—oh man “ECHOES” —now carries some insanely otherworldly funk within it I was only privy to through hints and glimpses on my original gatefold pressing of that disc.

That's a lot of music, huh?

Audiophiles. This is the shit. Get it. NOW.

Outside the aural tweaks, here’s my worry. Pink Floyd has finally released expanded versions of Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here with material we (largely) didn’t know existed. Some of it is good (the Dark Side Of The Moon stuff in particular) and some of it reminds us why The Floyd eschewed this path or that (the unreleased “Household Projects” outtakes). However, what this stuff DOES show us is that they have the vaults and there IS shit in there we want to hear! Hell, even Nick Mason recently admitted there was material that’s been widely bootlegged that warrants an “official” release. So who’s to say this isn’t a trapdoor that would lead to yet another set of re-issues?

But it looks like this is probably the last one as far as extensive Pink Floyd reissue campaigns go. No joke. The recording industry is crumbling beneath it’s own feet and, to Pink Floyd’s credit, they’re trying to leave on a high note (though, Mason, work on that REALLY unreleased stuff for us, and get it out on separate discs, OK?). And this really is a high note. Speaking as one that fell for the 24K CD ’80s craze I can readily admit these reissues sound SO much better. But if you’re on a budget, confine yourself to the expanded editions of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here that are out now and we suspect The Wall will be worth it when it’s released next year. (And let’s all petition for a Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking box set including the demos meant for Pink Floyd to record as a band. That would be wicked, no?) And Obscured By Clouds, because that’s the classic Floyd disc that is nigh perfect yet overlooked by almost everyone.

So there you have it, overall the current crop of Pink Floyd remasters gets it right. It really, and this really shocked me, does! The band won’t be able to top this, so if you’re looking to refresh your collection, or build it from the ground up, this is an excellent starting point.

And seriously, if you buy no other album from this reissue, buy Obscured By Clouds. It’s like the perfect marriage of all stages of Floyd.

Posted in Music, Review, Tankboy | 15 Comments

The only Nirvana remembrance you need read.

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Tankboy

Photo by Chris Cuffaro from Nirvana's website

I’m sick of people cashing in on grunge. Much the same way I’m certain someone five years my senior is sick of people cashing in on new wave. Or someone ten years my senior laments the cashing in on punk. Or someone five years my junior laments on the cashing in of … what, Nickelback?

And of course that last joke betrays why all these “oh my that was a time that can never be repeated!” pieces I see dotting the media landscape are, in fact, just so much bullshit. We all think our generation occupies a unique moment in time, and in that we are 100% correct. but each generation occupies its own moment in time. Everything you see as a linchpin or turning point has happened before, it’s merely YOUR linchpin or turning point.

The truth is you, and your music, and your movies, they are ALL unique delicate snowflakes but what you need to get in your head is that we’ve all got our own unique delicate snowflakes to reflect upon.

Grunge and Nirvana and the whole “alt-rock-post-college-radio-pre-Alternative-Nation” thing didn’t change the world. Just your life. My life. Or your older brother’s life. Or your little sister’s life. But it’s myopic and unfair to everything that preceded that moment, or succeeded it, to lay any deeper meaning on it than that.

OK, that’s a bit harsh, but true. I think, if I was making nice, what I would say instead is that each of us has turning points in our lives and for some those points are more a universal experience than an independent action. realize that’s what it is though. Celebrate your moment but don’t try to ascribe some larger meaning on that instant to spectators.

Let them have their own moment.

Posted in Tankboy | 5 Comments

OK GO Done Captured My Soul

Posted on April 2, 2010 by Tankboy


I remember when Chicago’s Wicker Park and the Ukie Village were plastered by OK Go‘s posters. Kulash and crew would take to the streets to promote the shit out of their next show at The Empty Bottle and I would go. I dug them, though back in the day they were more akin to the angular art rock of MarvelKind than the power-pop of Cheap Trick they would later adopt. They signed to a label and I was still impressionable enough I felt a twinge of pride though that was cut by the twinge of regret since I’d seen so many other friends get eaten by the label scene. OK Go seemed like they might do O.K., though.

Years passed, the band garnered some recognition, shot some videos, and continued to make good music. Their tunes were solid, always sounded good on the stereo, but they were mostly the sort of material you didn’t seek out to play on repeat. Solid, nonetheless.

Then the band went dark. I assumed they were on permanent hiatus, but man oh man was I wrong. Instead they were holed up in the most fabulous of laboratories, Dave Fridmann’s Tarbox Studios, grafting funk onto industrial metals and hypnotic guitars. The first time I heard the new album I was convinced they’d given over to the self-indulgent excesses that have sunk many a band before them in search of “making a statement.” Upon the third listen I realized the band had made their masterpiece.

And with that masterpiece the band found a new strength. The threw off their corporate chains and it could be argued that not only is the band enjoying its own personal renaissance but that they’re also continuing the work begun by other bands who paved the path to reach outside the industry to create a model of self-sustenance. this too, shall pass.

YouTube Preview Image

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Tankboy’s Top Albums and Songs of 2008

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Tankboy

The albums below are the ones I kept turning to when I just wanted to kick back and enjoy some tunes. Sure, there was more artistically challenging stuff released this year than some of the selections below — and I certainly do appreciate that sort of thing — but my year end lists reflect which music ultimately did for me what I think rock and/or roll is ultimately meant to do to any listener: it grabbed me by the heart and/or crotch and wouldn’t let go.

TOP 21 ALBUMS OF 2008

It should be noted I only counted albums released in 2008. If it was released digitally in 2007 it was NOT eligible … which is why you don’t see Radiohead, Robyn or MGMT on this list.

TV on the Radio, Dear Science
This mixture of high art and dance floor squonk not only bears up over repeated listens, it actually gets better. In that most rare of occurrences, the album I found myself turning to again and again too sate my more base musical desires also ended up feeding my intellectual hungers as well.
MP3: Dancing Choose | Buy on Amazon


Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak
West’s cold digital soundscape provides the vehicle for his most human album of his career. People are still arguing over this one — and in particular the near unhealthy dose of AutoTune running through the whole thing — but I still say that the whole thing works excellently as both an artistic and emotional statement.
Message Board Discussion | Buy on Amazon



Friendly Foes, Born Radical
This is the perfect vicious indie-pop Minneapolis-based band of 1986 / 1996 … that didn’t form until 2006 … in Detroit. It is only available digitally at the moment, and that’s the only reason I can think of to explain why everyone is not going ga-ga over this disc. When it gains more exposure next month I predict it’s gonna explode. Simply indispensable.
MP3: Couch Surfing


Sad Day For Puppets, Unknown Colors
These Swedes mine shoegaze and 1989 indie-pop a la The Darling Buds to create a sound warmly familiar and immediately arresting. Dreamy guitars and gauzy vocals entrance while solid rhythms ground the songs
MP3: Little Light


Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
Cut Copy stole my hearts with their last minute set at Pitchfork and I have yet to tire of their smart electronic-pop / dance-rock blend nailed down by exuberant melodies. Any time a bunch of boys can create smart dance music that causes throngs of people to just completely lose their shit — and then manage to carry that same vibe over onto their album — you’re going to find us in their fan base.
Youtube | Buy on Amazon


Rachael Yamagata, Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart
Yamagata takes her familiar sound a large stylistic leap forward. The song arrangements are daring, the instrumentation is dark and often starkly minimal. This is a world of grays punctuated by brief flashes of color and light. One tends to feel constricted, and the moments when things open up — as on the strings that swell during “Elephants,” it feels as if you’re taking in deep breaths of delicious oxygen. But even the tighter moments exalt as they bind the listener ever closer to Yamagata’s delivery. Buy on Amazon



Supergrass, Diamond Hoo Ha
Tossing off the more lethargic tendencies of the group’s last album, Supergrass return to their harder rockin’ roots, inject a healthy dose of Glam, and finally find their swaggering stride again. We’re extremely glad these grown men decided to re-channel their harder tendencies through equal parts sneer and smile on this album.
MP3 Mix | Buy on Amazon


The Features, Some Kind Of Salvation
Intensely delivered R&B wrasslin’, pop lovin’, Southern rock that delivers equal parts preacher fervor and lover’s lament. Soul searing as it reaches for the height of the skies, and crotch tingling as it revels in, uh, more secular waters. The turbo-charged anthems sit alongside naturally with the more introspective softer pieces to reveal a band comfortable on many terrains.
MP3: GMF | Buy from Official Site


Ting Tings, We Started Nothing
This explosively and deceptively simple-sounding debut still gets my blood boiling every time I hear it’s infectious beats and chirped vocals. This is the sort of band that is easy to write off as a one-hot wonder until you realized that you are compulsively humming the whole album from start to finish, again and again.
Youtube Channel | Buy on Amazon


Lykke Li, Youth Novels
Lykke Li’s minimal electronic pop is informed oh so subtly by the hip-hop aesthetic that when less is more it can be thunderous in its restraint. Her whispers can knock you and her wispy hooks will slip under your skin quietly and then absolutely refuse to let you go, no matter how hard you fight.
MP3: Dance Dance Dance | Buy on Amazon


Ladyhawke, Ladyhawke
Ladyhawke IS Pip Brown, and she expertly handles just about every instrument and arrangement in this surprisingly complex and engaging collection of dance pop firmly based in the day-glo ’80s. After hearing the ’80s mined so clumsily and inexpertly by so many other groups this year we’re tickled to see someone who re-realizes the giddy potential of that era’s more engaging composers.
MP3 | Buy on Amazon


The Dandy Warhols, …Earth To The Dandy Warhols…
The Dandy Warhols had to escape the Majors and form their own label in order to fearlessly pursue their own muse again to the listener’s great reward. Droning, funky, propulsive, and dreamy; The Dandys have both regained a steady footing while launching their music back into the stratosphere.
Subscription Service | Buy on Amazon


Sloan, Parallel Play
After the double-album preceding this one, Sloan focuses on creating timeless pop-rock that creates sing-alongs you’ve learned the word to a quarter of the way through the first listen. They stun us with their ability to consistently release albums that are, well, consistently great.
Yep Roc


Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It
The best R&B album of the year. Timeless. Perfect. It’s simultaneously an homage to Stax and Motown while proving that organic, vibrant soul music can both convincingly and honestly be crafted by a younger generation. Saadiq has moved seamlessly between genres in the past but this album proves his talents as a musical chameleon might have located their most honest perch. Buy on Amazon



The Uglysuit, The Uglysuit
Deceptively meditative baroque arrangements on The Uglysuit’s debut give way to expansive choruses and swirling walls of well-mannered psychedelia. Live this band is capable of searing your face off, but their album is more likely to find your cheeks streaked with tears.
MP3: Chicago | Buy on Amazon


Darker My Love, 2
These West Coasters are handy at transforming drone into hooks, incorporating groovy hooks with guitars turned to 11. The group has discovered expert ways to weave their obvious influences into their sound, for evidence of this check out the deliciously unholy mixture of The Beach Boys, My Bloody Valentine, and The Jesus and Mary Chain on “Two Ways Out.” When I listen to that song I picture the beach on one of those freak of nature days where it’s simultaneously sunny and raining.
Donewaiting Interview | Buy on Amazon


Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)
The weirdest and most difficult to penetrate R&B album of the year also proves the most interesting view of it’s creator’s core. Badu isn’t delivering your mainstream “smooth grooves,” and instead opts to take you on an extraterrestrial journey through the inner self. Buy on Amazon


Mystery Jets, Twenty One
These young Brits lost a bit of the ‘67 Pink Floyd freneticism that drew us to them in the first place, but they’ve replaced it with an alarmingly mature grasp of rhythm and dynamics injected into their winning blend of Britpop. The only downside to hearing this more realized sophomore effort? We’re totally jonesing for them to make another trip Satateside so I can see them play live again!
Youtube


The Feeling, Join With Us
These kids are equal parts Queen, Big Star, and The Greys … in other words if I didn’t know better we’d mistake this disc for a Jellyfish reunion album. Multilayered choruses with monster sized hooks dominate this disc … and the expansive production puts Jeff Lynne to shame.
Youtube | Buy on Amazon


Weezer, Weezer (The Red Album)
Scrap the non-Rivers Cuomo contributions, add the bonus tracks from the “Deluxe Edition,” and you have the best Weezer album in over a decade. Cuomo once again mixes the weird, the catchy, and the downright epic to create songs that move beyond the stadium constructs of the previous disc.
Weezer (Red Album)


Girl Talk, Feed The Animals
I don’t care if you love or hate Gregg Gillis as a person, or whether you view his mash-ups as “art” or you think he’s just a pandering hack behind a keyboard … Feed The Animals was the soundtrack that just dug into my inner dance party and would not let go. Wikipedia


Keep reading for favorite Chicago albums and songs of the year.

TOP 10 RELEASES BY CHICAGO BASED BANDS IN 2008

Tom Schraeder and His Ego, Lying Through Dinner EP
On his latest EP Schraeder often mixes Americana with the feel of a humid New Orleans bordello. Boozy, swinging strains spill out of darkened nightclubs into puddle-splashed streets. Rouged nipples brush inches away from the unshaven crevices of a miner’s chin on the boozy sing-along “When You’re Not Around,” an excellent compliment to the soaring hopeful organ strains permeating “Guadalupe Cries.” Schraeder expertly mixes the dark with the light creating a chiaroscuro effect on his compositions.

Local H, 12 Angry Months
12 Angry Months deals with the intensely personal cycle of the demise of a major relationship and the year of fall-out that follows. It’s not like break-ups are exactly unusual territory in pop music, but Local H’s Scott Lucas has the undeniable talent to take an individual experience and expand its relevance to universally touch. Lucas still has a gift for injecting a darkly pretty melody into even the most abrasively angry guitar lines, and Brian St. Clair’s drumming is both massive and tasteful. This is the near perfect album Local H has been threatening to make for years … all it took was something deeply personal to allow them to make a universal statement.

Milk At Midnight, Less love More Acid
Milk At Midnight’s sound is chimeric, with the primary sonic tether between tunes being the group’s ability to graft memorable melodies onto craggy surfaces. The other connecting point is angry lyrics that both condemn and soar. The sunshine is there if you really quint and search it out, but eventually your eyes are going to tire and the light will temporarily slip from your vision again. It’s the hope that keeps us going even as I stare wide-eyed at the horrors around us.

Grammar, The Grammar Self-Titled Short Player
Grammar has the potential to grow into kings (and queen) of Chicago’s orch-pop particular scene. The band’s debut self-titled EP contains six songs of wistful and airy pop that flickers and twinkles, delighting the ears. Jaunty piano numbers melt into choirs of intertwining vocal melodies, politely restrained rockers descend from above, sparse and cutting acoustic odes seep in underfoot, and pleas for inclusion are folded into tiny synthetic symphonies and plinking xylophone runs. Sound like an earful? It is, but it’ll leave you wanting more. Not bad at all for a debut EP.

Walter Meego, Voyager
Voyager is one hell of a first album. It’s slinky, sexy guitar and synthesizer lines kiss and cuddle with each other, while the underlying beats seem destined to unleash a whole new class of freaky line-dancers getting ready to make babies. Their urbane, sophisticated delivery gives off images of disco balls, DeLoreans, glow sticks and day-long lollipops.

Fall Out Boy, Folie à Deux
Shut up, I don’t care what you think. Once you get past Pete Wentz’s celebrity antics and allow yourself to become enveloped by Patrick Stump’s powerhouse vocals that forsake emo delivery for good old fashioned soul you’ll begin to realize why Fall Out Boy’s albums actually seem to be getting better as they get more famous instead of the other way around.

Prairie Cartel, EP 1
The Prairie Cartel’s debut 12″ successfully lays out the group’s sonic manifesto in two original tracks, a cover, and a remix. Think of it as punk blood coating a Go-Go cage. The highlight of the EP is the cover of 999′s “Homicide” since it does the best job of offering the group a chance to let their talents for truly mixing the big rock with the surging dance. In my opinion it also does the best job of capturing the group’s electric at times careening live show.

Textbook, Boxing Day Massacre

Boxing Day Massacre is equal parts All, Uncle Tupelo, and Cheap Trick. “Desperation Free” is the sort of song that lyrically appeals to the eternal 15-year-old in us, while sporting a a musical envelope that would fit equally well on Fuse or in the back room of Hideout. Textbook is one of those weird beasts that I could see the kids going gonzo over while the older crowd hangs near the back by the bar and tips perspiring bottles of PBR the band’s way in admiration.

Big Science, The Coast Of Nowhere EP
Big Science came out of nowhere during the latter quarter of this year to blindside us with their glam-pop. Their ’80s-inflected pop would have put them in permanent rotation on 120 Minutes between vintage Cure, INXS, and XTC. And believe us, I mean that as one of the highest compliments I can offer to a pop band. [Download the EP for free]

Parks and Gardens, Avec Cloture
Parks and Gardens doesn’t really deviate from the form of loop and sample laden rockin’ designed with the discotheque in mind, but instead of utilizing those elements to create a cliche they inject an angular artsiness into their songs. In effect this creates a minor agitation in the listener, and I think that’s kind of a bold move for any band trying to ingratiate themselves with a crowd not particularly interested in anything beyond basic Sybaritic pleasure.

THE 50+1 SONGS OF 2008
(in almost no particular order)

These tunes are all songs that will scream “2008!” any time I hear ‘em. They may not be the highest charting singles, and some are barely even known to more than a handful of people … but they are the top tracks on the mixtape that defines the feeling and experiences of 2008 for me.

MGMT “Kids”
Hey Champ “Cold Dust Girl”
Walter Meego “Girls”
Katy Perry “Hot N Cold”
The Black Ghosts “Repetition Kills You (with Damon Albarn)”
Neon Neon “I Told Her On Alderaan”
George Pringle “Carte Postale”
Alphabeat “10.000 Nights Of Thunder”
Amanda Palmer “Oasis”
Beck “Chemtrails”
Beyonce “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
Black Kids “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Remix)”
British Sea Power “Down On The Ground”
Chairlift “Bruises”
Coldplay “42”
Cut Copy “Lights and Music”
Does It Offend You, Yeah? “Dawn Of The Dead”
Estelle “American Boy”
The Feeling “Turn It Up”
The Futureheads “Think Tonight”
Hot Chip “Ready For The Floor”
Jay Reatard “See/Saw”
Kanye West “RoboCop”
The Killers “Spaceman”
Ladytron “Ghosts”
La Scala “ Love! Love! Love!”
Ladyhawke “My Delirium”
Lettuce “Blast Off”
Lily Allen “The Fear”
M83 “Graveyard Girl (Speechless Edit)”
Mansions “The Worst Part”
Mardeen “Telephones”
of Montreal “Gallery Piece (Jon Brion remix)”
Phantom Planet “Leader”
Pink “So What”
Prairie Cartel “Homicide”
She & Him “I Was Made For You”
The Submarines “You Me and the Bourgeoisie”
Supergrass “Rebel In You”
The Boy Least Likely To “A Balloon On A Broken String”
Titus Andronic
The Ting Tings “Great DJ”
The Virgins “Rich Girls (RAC Mix)”
Weezer “Pork & Beans”
What Made Milwaukee Famous “Sultan”
Friendly Foes “My Body (Is A Strange Place To Live)
Black Mountain “Stormy High”
Darker My Love “Two Ways Out”
The Hold Steady “Sequestered In Memphis”
Local H “White Belt Boys”

…aaaaand, while I was DJing the song regularly last year, it didn’t really explode until the summer so…

M.I.A. “Paper Planes”

Posted in 2008 Favorites, Chicago, MP3, Tankboy | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Truth About Lollapalooza

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Tankboy

The author at Lollapalooza 2008 as shot by Clayton Hauck

I’ve never paid to see Lollapalooza in its current incarnation in Chicago

The first year a friend got me in to the Lollalounge through a radio contest she won, and each subsequent year I’ve had press access. I’ve read and written countless previews and reviews of the festival, and it wasn’t until this year that I realized each and every one was basically flawed. Sure, they tackled the bands appearing, and attempted to capture the vibe, but they never really grappled with the most primal question surrounding Lollapalooza; should you go?

You see, most reviews you’ll come across are written by folks like me. We get in for free, are granted access to amenities 99% of attendees are not, and – this is most important – we come from a vantage point of relative privilege since most critics have probably already seen the vast majority of the bands appearing at Lollapalooza. What does this result in? Well, usually you end up reading uniform reviews semi-complaining about the line-up, flagellating the festival and the bands involved for sponsorship issues, gripes about ticket prices, and much hand-wringing over the infamous “radius clause.” Oh, and if you’re lucky, you get some griping about drunk meatheads, sound bleed, and general overcrowding. (And, yes, every once in a while, you get honest-to-god reporting on isolated incidences.)

The thing is, all those write-ups sort of miss the whole point of Lollapalooza.

To the average person, all of the above doesn’t mean shit. Look, let’s say you like only 10 of the 120 or so acts appearing at Lollapalooza, and let’s say of those 10, 4 are headliners. If you were to see those 4 bands alone in an alternate “shed” or arena sized venue, you’d be paying upwards of $50 a piece, before Ticketbastard even hit you with their own charges. By that math alone, you’ve already made out with a relative bargain.

And the line-up? Who the hell can legitimately gripe about a 120 band line-up? Sure we heard gripes there wasn’t enough local talent, but last time we checked, Lollapalooza was an international destination festival and we just happen to be its base. By that virtue, shouldn’t the festival bookers be more interested in a diverse line-up and not be beholden to sticking a couple Chicago band on the bill? I’d love to see more Chicago acts play Lollapalooza, but I’d like to think they got on the bill through the virtue of their music and their draw rather than because the organizers were guilted into including them. Right?

Sponsorship issues? Well, if Rage Against The Machine and Radiohead can play on the AT&T stage, I don’t think there are any sponsorship issues. I’m just as old school indie rock as the next grouchy music critic, and I actually remember the ‘80s and the corporate-directed anger that lay within that decade, but at this point, in this climate, the point is moot. I have no problem seeing a logo plastered across the stage if it means that logo is partially lowering ticket prices through subsidization. More importantly, does anyone actually think the current generation of concert attendees even notices sponsors anymore after navigating websites festooned with pop-ups, banner ads, and other various attempted attention-getters they’ve already learned to tune out?

I’ve also heard Lollapalooza is killing the local music scene through its “radius clause,” or the contractual obligation it asks of its band not to play shows in the Midwest for months before and after their Lollapalooza appearance. Now, this is a gripe I used to buy into, having been a local promoter in the past, and having seen the summer scene dry up over the last few years. This year I realized something important though; the local scene isn’t drying up because of Lollapalooza, it’s drying up because of heavier inter-club competition and a dearth of bands large enough to actually command large followings over repeat performances. This year any band playing the festival that I wanted to see play in a small club ended up playing a small club later on in the evening. And some smaller bands seem completely unaffected. For instance locals OFFICE ended up playing during the Pitchfork Music Festival weekend and are also appearing at a local street festival next week. Well, so much for that draconian “radius clause” choking the smaller working indie talent, huh?

And finally, here’s the most important thing every single review seems to miss; people go to Lollapalooza to have fun, and to check out a few of their favorite bands. By the sheer virtue of the size of the festival we applaud the bookers for including a wide swathe of music, and hold out hopes that many attendees end up stumbling across a new favorite band playing some other stage as they make their way to the next ticked box on their personal schedule, and from a critical standpoint that’s all I can really hope for. I think it’s incredibly silly and short-sighted to slight a festival of Lollapalooza’s size for booking acts they hope will draw a crowd. Not to mention any line-up that includes Dierks Bently, Amadou and Mariam, Explosions in the Sky, Spank Rock, and Kanye West can’t exactly be called either predictable or generically mainstream.

And the folks at the festival had fun. Even those that had to wait in line and pay for beer, wait in line to use a porta-potty, wait in line to struggle through the crowd watching Girl Talk, and wait in line to wait in line to get into the festival. I tromped from one side of Grant Park to the other at least a dozen times each day. I waded through the masses. I waited in line for beer next to drunk frat boys. I saw indie chicks in day-glo green gym outfits camped out on bright red blankets. I say kids passed out in the shade after one to many afternoon cocktails. I saw you. And in all of this I saw a mass of 75,000 people a day having a good time, mostly getting along, and all smiling while watching either classic favorites or new musical discoveries. I saw a small city of people unwilling to consume itself, and a community hell-bent on having a good time.

And that my friends, is what makes Lollapalooza worth it, for you and for me.

You can see all of the photos the author shot at Lollapalooza by visiting here.

The author at Lollapalooza 2008  shot by Clayton Hauck

Posted in Chicago, Music, Tankboy | Tagged | 5 Comments

Better Late Than Never: More Quickie Album Reviews

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Tankboy

I keep saying this is a great year for music, and it is, and some of the reviews below continue to reflect that fact, but some of them merely showcase solidly average offerings. And one review is of a disc I really wish the artist could recall since it sullies my fond memories of their earlier efforts. Anyway, onwards.

Be Your Own Pet – Get Damaged EP
Seriously? these songs were banned from the American release of their last album? Doesn’t that make total sense for a Major in these parts? I can just see the boardroom discussion: “Well, there’s these three songs, and they’re really catchy, maybe the best three songs on the album, but the lyrics seem a little scary. They’re about girls punching other girls and stuff like that. I mean if it was about Hos and Bros, or date rape, or getting drunk and getting it on I would be totally down with that, but this chick that’s singing sounds mean. That sort of scares me, so let’s take these songs off the album, O.K.?”

Mudcrutch – Mudcrutch
Tom Petty revives his first band to record the album they never got around to making. Is it the most rockin’-est, swingin’-est Petty has recorded in years? You bet it is! Is it exciting and interesting to listen to? With the exception o “Lover On The Bayou” you bet it ain’t. It’s kind of like if Uncle Tupelo had waited until after Anodyne to record No Depression. For fans only.

Human Highway – Moody Motorcycle
The dude from Islands mines his inner country indie-pop muse and comes back with an album of enjoyable, if slightly slight, tunes. Whispered vocals, sharply mellow beats, and minimal instrumententation mark the majority of the tunes. In fact, as the album went on I started to think of the band as being sonically akin to a laid back version of Fountains Of Wayne. If that sounds up your alley, check ‘em out.

Smoking Popes – Stay Down
If you don’t live in Chicago, you probably have no idea how much love the Smoking Popes receive. We like them way better than Alkaline Trio, The Pumpkins, Fall Out Boy, or Kill Hannah. Face it, the Caterer brother rule. So I was excited when they got the band back together and got Josh to sing about heartbreak again, instead of God (though I guess it can be argued God is in every heartbreak, but this is a music review, not a theology discussion).

So how does their first album in 10 years stack up against our sentimental memories? Pretty well! I’d say a number of the tunes would have benefited by  sticking to the under 3-minute rule, but I’m willing to let that go in the face of how much fun I just had listening to the band bash it out again.

Seabird – Till We See The Shore
More grand British-sounding rock and/or roll performed by Yanks. The thing about these bands is they all mix Travis and  Oasis into their sound to create such a populist melange that it’s difficult to ascertain any actual personality within the songs. At the same time, I like an urgent stadium rocker or over-the-top anthem just as much as the next cat, so Seabird does scratch a particular itch rather well. But they don’t really satisfy that itch, which leads one to not linger over their songs past a certain finite shelf-life.

Valient Thorr – Immortalizer
Yaaaaargh! Metal! Sweaty! Loud! Stinky! Balls-out! Waaaah! Too much metal for just one fist! Not too fucking shabby, actually. I mean, it is what it is. It ain’t groundbreaking, but it stays tight while still knowing how to swing.

Brett Anderson – Wilderness
I loved Suede. Honest I did. I worshiped Brett Anderson. So it pains me to describe this album as it is: the dude from Suede sings a bunch of incredibly mediocre , melodramatic, and maudlin ballads. Why, Brett, why?!

Be Your own Pet photo from their Myspace
Smoking Popes photo from their MySpace

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A Transmission About Liz Phair from the Actual Guyville

Posted on June 26, 2008 by Tankboy

Much print has been spilled in the most recent flurry of Liz Phair news, and a lot of it just clearly misses the fucking point.

As an artistic piece I still think Exile In Guyville is an amazing piece of emotional honesty. I could care less what motivated Liz Phair to write the songs, and from what I can tell she was an artist first and foremost, but she wanted validation from Nash Kato and that crew, so I think that supplied the drive to actually get her stuff released. I think the “potty mouth / slutty blowjob queen / Exile On Mainstreet / priveleged rich kid going bohemian” thing is an angle that lazy journalists employed then, and still employ. One watch of the Guyville Redux DVD that comes with the reissue is paints a much better representation of the indie scene at the time — Chicago in particular — and the way she actually fit into things at the time.

But I think she was/is an artist with a limited well from which to draw. There’s a reason the good songs on later discs were mostly reworkings of stuff from the Girlysound tapes. I think she hit upon a bright burst of inspiration at a certain point in her life and after that was gone she didn’t have anything else unique to say.

Another journalist and I were having an argument recently over whether or not Guyville is even a feminist work. I argued it wasn’t philosophically, but understood that since it empowered so many women some folks just lump it in as a “feminist work.” And I think that’s the most important thing, and one that gets severely overlooked since almost everyone that’s ever written about the album is male, and they totally fucking miss this point just about every single time, but when that disc came out there were a LOT of girls that were suddenly like, OH my GOD, I think those same things too. And it’s O.K. I’m not alone!”

Who cares if Phair never writes another decent song, or that her career nowadays is one naked grab for attention after another? That’s her business, and I don’t hold it against her one whit, and I think it’s idiotic for people to hate on her for trying to make a career within today’s totally fucked up music industry. What matters is that, once upon a time, she created a piece of art that gave a lot of people courage by shouting universal truths previously held behind closed doors. For that Liz Phair will always have my respect.

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Better Late Than Never: A Few Super-quick Album Reviews

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Tankboy

I always have a huge pile of discs to review, and I hold them in a queue in the tankPOD to remind me that I haven’t gotten to this disc or that disc yet. Well, some of these keep getting pushed aside by newer or more high profile, or simply more deserving releases, and I never get around to doing them. And a few are just lousy. What follows is a mixture of both.

Less Than Jake – GNV FLA
There are still bands playing that mid-’90s punk/ska thing? Really? Why?

Look See Proof – Between Here And There
Another English band probably signed because they sound vaguely like Futureheads. Not bad, but not really original or particularly memorable.

Kylie Minogue – X
This didn’t sell that well, and has since been viewed as sort of a disappointment because of that, but I think it’s a pretty good album. Minogue continues to deftly blend club beats with an indie-pop sensibility to create a varied and fun piece of work. Artistically, Madonna would do well to follow her example.

Ladytron – Velocifero
I have a weak spot for this sweet gothy electro-pop. Ladytron sound like they’re never going to leave the ’80s behind and I’m totally thankful for that. (See also: the latest from M83.)

Phantom Planet – Raise The Dead
Phantom Planet continues to travel the Radiohead-lite road illuminated by The Bends, and end up turning out a pretty good pop-rock album with some slight art leanings. Bonus points for the children’s choir they include on “Leader” since it kills me every time.

Santogold – Santogold
I’m actually glad I didn’t get around to writing about this until now. had I tackled it when it first came out my review would have been filled with superlatives and announcements of “another great voice for her generation!” type stuff. Repeated listens have revelaed the album to be far less interesting that I originally thought, since it tends to wear its welcome out quickly. I still think it’s an interesting album, and “L.E.S Artistes” is a fan-fucking-tastic single, but it’s already showing its age and it’s barely a few months old.

We Are Scientists – Brain Thrust Mastery
More ’80s dance rock goodness. This is the opposite of the Santogold disc: I anticipated the giddy joys offered by its gloss and shiny pop would rub away pretty quickly, but I was wrong. I think I might like the sonic depth offered by Brain Thrust Mastery over the frenetic pop of the band’s Major Label debut.

What Made Milwaukee Famous – What Doesn’t Kill Us
And finally, let’s file this under pleasant surprises. From the opening notes of the anthemic “Blood, Sweat & Fears,” through the insanely catchy horn-laced indie-pop of “Sultan,” and through sweetly waning “Blood, Sweat & Fears,” this disc has yet to grow old to our ears. What Doesn’t Kill Us is equal parts earnest and engaging, playful and smart, and wholly satisfying.

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Guyville, No Longer With Wild Thing?

Posted on June 18, 2008 by Tankboy

Liz PhairI’m reviewing Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville reissue for another publication and got the digital version of the album a week or two ago so I could hear the bonus tracks. I just got the physical version in the mail today since I needed that to review the DVD that’s included. (Which, just from this brief bit, already looks pretty awesome.) However I noticed that the CD no longer includes the bonus track “Wild Thing,” a playful rework of The Troggs tune.

I wonder what happened?

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Dandy Warhols Still Rule O.K.

Posted on May 21, 2008 by Tankboy

O.K., the title is a bit misleading. I love the Dandy Warhols — even though I refuse to admit the existence of Odditorium — and have bought just about everything they’ve ever put out right down to the self-released Black Album/Come On Feel The Dandy Warhols package. I’ve easily spent hundred of dollars collecting import singles for unreleased tracks and remixes. But that was back in the days when that was the only way to get those tunes … now I wold just pay 99 cents for the song I didn’t have and save the other nine bucks.

So I was excited to hear the band was releasing it’s latest, …Earth to The Dandy Warhols…, under a remarkably forward-thinking subscription model. For a set price you would get the album as an immediate download, a physical CD once it was released, a screen printed poster, and any b-sides released in the next year. That is all pretty cool, right? The only problem is that they want $34.99 a year for the whole package. For me, that’s pretty steep, even when you include a healthy mark-up for materials and postage, though I’m sure plenty of folks would be more than happy to pay that. Good for them.

What I think would have been a better solution would be to offer the disc and music subscription for something closer to $15-$20, even allowing a lower tier for folks that wanted to go digital only. What do you think, am I being to stingy or am I right in thinking the band might have been better off offering a variety of packages to their fans?

Either way, I’m pleased to see them making a go of it without a Major label, and commend them for at least trying something new, even if it is out of my price range for disposable income these days.

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